Emily's return to life is a structural device which unites the action of the play. The fact that the audience witnesses the same setting that opened Act I gives the play continuity and familiarity. The comments and actions of people mirror the commonplace actions of the first scenes. This repetition forces the audience to see through Emily's eyes the replay of her past. Therefore, it is easier to comprehend her disillusionment as she hurriedly returns to her place on the hill.
The final scene expresses most clearly Wilder's focus. The earth is a place where everything happens and everything is important. The playwright impels the audience toward an understanding and appreciation of life's brevity. A subtle reminder of how quickly life can end is contained in the constable's rescue of a man from death by freezing. Returned to girlhood, Emily concludes that her mother is so busy with housewifely details that she takes no time to appreciate the wonder of her family. Emily's impassioned cry to her mother that they should look at each other underscores the human inability to absorb the essence of living while it is going on.
Wistfully, Emily, who is only twenty-six at the time of her death, realizes that she is out of place in the familiar scene. She bids farewell to ticking clocks, sunflowers, food and coffee, newironed dresses, hot baths, sleeping and waking. Still, with all that she has experienced since the beginning of Act I, she seems to have aged very little from her first appearance onstage, even though she has progressed from schoolgirl to wife and mother. Overall, the scene focuses on human frailty, which keeps people from enjoying all the good that life has to offer. Overcome with dismay at earthly wastefulness, Emily comprehends that the living are blind to everyday wonders. Perhaps, as Wilder states, saints and poets do realize some of every moment of life, but the average person allows these precious trifles to pass by without recognizing their worth.
